December 12 marks the Day of Remembrance for the architect and creator of a modern independent Azerbaijani state, a global political figure, national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. A dozen years have passed since the day of his death, but his memory has been honored in Russia to this day. The people who personally knew Heydar Aliyev - his friends and associates, creative community, political and public figures - attended the memory evening at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow.
Deputy Chairman of the Commission for UNESCO, vice-president of the Russian Council on International Affairs Alexander Dzasokhov shared his memories of Heydar Aliyev's visit to Syria: "In the second half of the 1980s, one of the key Soviet Union leaders left for Damascus, for this ancient city, a crossroads civilization as a member of the Politburo and First Deputy Chairman of the government. Whatever position a man of this scale had, he still kept his roots against the background of enormous tasks. In Damascus he held a separate meeting with the country's leader Hafez al-Assad. Heydar Alev said: "Great Nasimi is buried in Syria, and the people I represent dream of him being on the land of his ancestors." Two outstanding figures of the 20th century agreed that philosopher and first poet number of ancient Azerbaijan Nasimi belongs to the Azerbaijani culture and people, but is the son of many nations."
According to Alexander Dzasokhov, "the Azerbaijani people has a special place of honor in the vast array of spiritual and religious Muslim nations. Heydar Aliyevich had many features characteristic of great people, and one of his main qualities is dignity. 15 years have passed, there have been many books and films, but interest in Heydar Aliyev is only growing. Many years will pass, but the next generations will remember him with gratitude. Heydar Aliyevich was an outstanding figure in foreign policy matters, first of all, in the Soviet Union, and then in the Azerbaijan Republic. He traveled to countries which were at the forefront of the postcolonial world back then. He was a man of such high status, but decided to go to Angola together with his colleagues. Heydar Aliyevich is at the highest point in the history of international relations. This is his special service to our huge country and to the people of Azerbaijan."
President of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia, Gennady Schmal, said that he knew Heydar Aliyev as a very competent and professional manager: "He was rather tough. The entire economy of the country at that time was managed by the Commission for Operational Issues, which was headed by Heydar Aliyev for many years. He dealt with the most acute problems - transport, issues of industrial development, although he also supervised such spheres as culture, health care, and many others. In our understanding, Baku has always been a standard of well-being. Heydar Aliyevich said: "Azerbaijan's oil and gas, given to us by the Lord, is the national wealth that should serve the people." I would like to conclude my speech with such an epitaph: "Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race."
Chairperson of the Interstate Aviation Council Tatyana Anodina has known Heydar Aliyev for ten years. "For me he was a person who personifies not only the past, but also the wonderful present of Azerbaijan, as well as the future which he was creating. I remember Heydar Alievich at different times. When there was a single country and flourishing Azerbaijan, of which he was proud, he always tried to engage people to do something for Azerbaijan. Engage is the word, not to force or oblige. I did not hold high positions back then, but I had the opportunity to help develop the civil aviation of Azerbaijan, which he loved so much. I told him: "Heydar Aliyevich, it is because you have wings yourself, you are airborne," Tatiana Anodina remembers.
"Though aviators are superstitious, we believe in fate, we believe that life always wins. I remember Heydar Aliyevich to be like this. He was infinitely simple and humane. When he made the decision to return to Azerbaijan, I told him: "Heydar Aliyev, I am afraid. Maybe you will stay? It's so dangerous to be there." And then he told me: "Why do you think that I should be afraid of something in my homeland?" It sounded so bravely, so humanly," Anodina said.
The chairperson of the Interstate Aviation Council said that she often visit the second headquarters of the committee in Baku. "The name of Heydar Aliyev symbolizes a lot in Azerbaijan, in every home, in the face of every person, in every gesture of people, even those who did not know him," Tatiana Adonina said.
